Why are U.S. student visas revoked?

• The Trump administration has revoked visas of students suspected of involvement in campus protests or advocating for human rights in Gaza.

• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that no one has a right to a U.S. visa, citing organized movements on campuses.

• The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 allows the Secretary of State to revoke visas of foreigners deemed a threat.

• The ‘Catch and Revoke’ programme, linked to President Trump’s executive order to counter “anti-Semitic” movements, has revoked visas of over 300 in-country foreign students, including Indian students.

• The State Department is using AI-assisted reviews of social media posts by foreign students to decide who might qualify for visa revocation and deportation.

• The Trump administration has also tightened the screws against major U.S. universities, cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in annual federal government support to Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins.

• The number of international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities has seen a strong overall growth, from 26,000 international students in 1949-50 to nearly 1.1 million in 2019-20.

• The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) was set up in 2003 to collect, maintain, and manage information about all foreign students and exchange visitors in the U.S.

• The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, arguing that targeting students based on their views is unconstitutional and detrimental to academic freedom.